Michigan Medicine has declared May to be Grief Awareness Month for Faculty and Staff. We experience grief and loss as employees too. Since February, we’ve worked to extend the current Bereavement Leave policy to include the loss of an unborn child in our contract. UMMAP Member, Trisha Pierson, shared her heartbreaking loss of her daughter with the Regents, last Thursday. Below is her statement and you can hear it here:
“My name is Trisha Pierson and I am currently a Medical Assistant at the University of Michigan Rachel Upjohn Outpatient Psychiatry Building. I am here today representing UMMAP. I would like to address our concerns surrounding child loss and reaching an agreement with management in our current contract negotiations.
UMMAP recently proposed that the university allow bereavement time for employees who experience a child loss due to stillbirth or miscarriage. Management countered our proposal saying that an employee may have time off after child loss but, it will be considered as paid time off unscheduled, instead of bereavement. This means the employee will have to use their own paid time off hours, and risk discipline due to calling off.
As an employee who has faced a stillbirth related child loss, I feel dismayed and anguished by management’s proposal. In 2014 I was receiving prenatal care at DMC, after a heartbreaking discovery at 17 weeks and feeling ignored and unsupported as a patient, I decided to transfer my prenatal care to Beaumont. Beaumont was full and recommended the U of M high risk clinic. U of M welcomed me to their high risk clinic with open arms and that’s where my first experience with the health system began. After a few months of weekly appointments, I went into preterm labor at 32 weeks, which unfortunately resulted in the stillbirth of my daughter Cassidy. The care I received from the labor and delivery team, along with support I received from the health system as a whole made the situation slightly easier to bear considering the circumstances. It was for those reasons I decided to seek employment with the health system and ultimately started my career here in February 2016.
To think that I joined a health care system that made me feel valued and supported as a patient, but will not make me feel valued and supported as an employee is very discouraging. We ask that President Ono and the Board of Regents stand with UMMAP in our efforts towards a policy that is inclusive and equitable for employees suffering a child loss.”
Trisha, we admire your courage in sharing your painful loss of your daughter! We stand together and are committed to fight for fair and inclusive language bereavement policy. One powerful way to ensure that we have time to heal and grieve after the loss of a pregnancy is to share your stories. It does have a big impact on management. If you have experienced pregnancy loss, harassment, or unhelpful peer evaluations, we encourage you to share your stories by filling out this form: UMMAP Testimonial. We will not share your testimonial without your permission.
